For our first science unit this year we have focused on DNA and genetics. This unit was all about learning what makes us human and what makes us unique from other humans. In this unit we learned about genes, chromosomes, phenotypes and everything like that. The end project for this was to make a podcast and answer a question about twins and DNA. This was something that caused us to use every part of the unit that we had learned. We had to use every scientific term we had learned to describe how twins and DNA works. The podcast was a reflection of our learning throughout the unit.
The question we had to answer in our podcast was, how does DNA and genetics determine the characteristics of living things? To go along with this question we had to answer another question which was if two sets of different twins get together and have children will those children be the same. We got together in partners and together we made a podcast that answered these questions. First of all we had to explain how DNA and chromosomes work and how they fit into our cells. With out explaining this then the listener would have no idea what we were talking about when we say genotypes phenotypes and all sorts of things like that. Once we explained everything like that in the podcast we answered the question using all of the terms that we had just explained. This podcast was the final part of this unit but there were plenty of other parts that led up to the end.
There were lots of small things that we did before making this that helped us understand what we were actually talking about. So before we made this we had to learn what phenotypes and genotypes were, what DNA and chromosomes did and what they are, and all the rest of these terms that we had no idea what they meant. It was only once we fully understood all these terms that we decided to start on the podcast. We managed to get a spot in a recording studio at school so our audio is is very nice and clear. We recorded it an out the clips together in iMovie. Once we did that I made some music on GarageBand and then inserted it into podcast with our recordings. This podcast was our first major science project this year and I definitely learned a lot from it. DNA and genetics was always something I found interesting and I am now happy that I got to learn about it and demonstrate my learning.
Before the unit
After the unit
